


Welcome to Jurassic World

by Majestic_Moonwolf



Category: Jurassic Park Original Trilogy (Movies), Jurassic World Trilogy (Movies)
Genre: Dinosaurs, F/M, Possible Character Death, Raptors, Velociraptors
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 13:26:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21648169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Majestic_Moonwolf/pseuds/Majestic_Moonwolf
Summary: Owen, Claire and Maisie move on after the events of Fallen Kingdom. What will happen to them? What will happen to the dinosaurs? Are more people gonna die?
Relationships: Claire Dearing/Owen Grady
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	1. Out of the estate

"So... you sure about this?" He asked me as he stopped the car. "Well, no, but I have no idea where else we could go, since my apartment is too small for the three of us, just like that van you sleep in." "Hey, I'm building a cabin." "I know, but the van is still too small. Anyhow, I... don't want to be separated, you know? Not now." "Yeah, I get it, neither do I, but you really think she'll take us in?" "We can try." "I still think a hotel is a better idea." "And risk the press finding us?" "They'll find us anyway." "They'll find us sooner if we stay at a hotel." He sighed, "Whatever." He started the car again, "Where does she live." I gave him the address. "Huh, not too far from here. Did they move?" together for a while after what happened, for the sake of the boys but, they couldn't keep it up much longer." "Sad." "Oh well, it would have been worse for them if they'd stayed together." "That's true." "So, yes, it may be said, but it's probably for the better." 

It wasn't long before Owen pulled into the driveway. "Where are we?" Maisie asked us from behind us. "We're... well... at the house of a family member of mine," I told her. "And we can stay here?" "I hope. Maybe it's a good idea if I talk to her first, you know, just for a few seconds," I said as I turned to Owen. "Yeah, but don't take too long." "I won't, I promise." 

I opened the door of the car and got out. I took a deep breath, slammed the car door shut and walked up to the door. There I breathed out before ringing the bell. It didn't take long for the door to open up. "Hey Karen," I said as my sister appeared in view. "Claire?" "Hi." "You... ARE YOU OKAY?" "You heard about what happened on the island, didn't you?" "OF COURSE I DID, THE WHOLE BLOODY PLACE WAS COVERED IN LAVA!" Can you maybe stop screaming?" "WE THOUGHT YOU DIDN'T MAKE IT!" "Well... I did... surprise?" She then hugged me, "Dammit Claire, don't ever do that to me again!" "Yeah, I don't think I'm ever going back to an island with an active volcano. Not really an ideal holiday destination." She chuckled as she let go of me to take me in. "What happened to your leg?" "Dinosaurs. Dinosaurs happened. Uh... look, I have a lot to explain and I've had quite a rough 24 or I don't know how many hours... could we talk inside?" "You me and the people in that car?" She asked me as she looked past me, "Is that Owen?" "Yes, and yes." "Claire..." "It's a long story..." "Are you guys back together again?" "Well... uh... maybe. I did kiss him." "Did you tell him about..?" "You really think I had the time for that? Tonight? After the whole dinosaur thing?" "You could have told him when you tried to get him on your team." "Yeah, like he would have come then. Can we come in or no?" "Sure, come in. I want to hear your story, how you survived the lava and all." "Good, let me call them. Owen, Maisie, are you guys coming?" 

"You did what?" I was telling the story, but Karen kept interrupting me. "You fell into the water in one of those giant hamster balls?" "Yes." "You could have drowned!" "But I didn't, I mean, I almost did, but I didn't." "You almost drowned?" "Mom, cam you please calm down?" Grey had come downstairs as soon as I had rang the doorbell, now he was sitting next to his mom, listening to the story Owen and I were telling them. "She almost drowned Grey!" "But I got out! And we got to the coast safely!" "You could have been dead!" "Mom, come on, she's alive, and she's okay. Can you please relax?" She took a deep breath, "Okay, fine, continue." "So, we reached the coast safely, like Claire said, you know, dodging all the dinosaurs and all." "Not working, Owen." "And as we got there we were angry as we realized that all of this, well, most of this had been a lie. Because well... they did take the dinosaurs, but they were gonna sell them on a bidding." "That's awful!" Grey exclaimed. "Yeah, it was." "So, we followed them onto their ship, because they thought we were dead." "You should have seen it," Owen said, "Claire drove the truck and literally jumped onto the ship with it." "Awesome!" Grey said in response. "Really Owen?" He grinned at me, "What?" "Are you trying to freak Karen out even more, look at her." She looked pretty freaked out by what she'd heard. "Hey, at least I didn't tell her about you riding the t-rex to tap her blood." "You tapped blood from a t-rex?" "It was to save Blue!" "The velociraptor?" "Yes." "Yeah, that makes it better." "Oh come on, you would have done the same thing if you'd known her. I did something good, okay?" She sighed, "If that's what you call it." "Yes, that's what I call it, can you please let us continue our story now?" she nodded, "Sure, go on." 

She let us finish our story, eventually, and she was very worried about my leg of course. And we didn't tell her too much about Maisie, we wanted to wait with that till we knew we could stay. Which of course was exactly what Karen expected. "So, I expect you guys don't want to be separated from each other... not after everything you've been through in the last 24 hours." "Uh..." "Yeah, humans are weird like that." "Well, yes, I was going to ask that... because-," "Your apartment doesn't have enough room for the three of you." "And-," "Neither does Owen's van and you don't want anyone to have to sleep on the couch." "And we didn't want to go to a hotel because-," "The press will found out that the mansion has security camera's, they will find out you're still alive and they'll come look for you if they find out that you booked into a hotel room." "How do you do that?" "I'm your sister." "It's scary." "You're welcome." "So... can we... stay?" "Of course you can, you're my sister." I sighed of relief, "Thank you, Karen. You're the best." 

Sometime later Owen was bringing Maisie to bed, even thought it was close to noon. None of us had slept that night, but Masie had fallen asleep now. "So, what's it about the girl that you didn't want to tell me right away?" "Seriously?" "Claire, I'm your sister, I know your facial expressions, your looks. I know there's something you didn't want to tell me right away. I saw it when you talked about her." I sighed, "She's kind of a... strange story." "Tell me." "Well, I said she was the granddaughter of Benjamin Lockwood, right?" "Yes, and her grandfather died, so now you and Owen want to take care of her..." "Yes, but... she... isn't really his granddaughter." "What?" "Remember when I said that something drove a wedge between Lockwood and Hammond?" "Of course I do, you never knew the specifics though." "Well, I do now." "That little girl?" "Well, in some way, yes. Look, Maisie isn't what she seems to be. The... technology that was applied to create the dinosaurs was also used to make her." "What?" "Maisie is a clone of Lockwood's daughter and is therefore actually also his daughter I think. I'm not sure." "That's..." "Crazy? I know, I find it hard to believe myself, but she showed us a picture of her nanny Iris with her "mom" and... that's... they look so much alike, they can't even be twins, she really is a clone..." "Wow." "Yeah, I know..." "Is that why she..?" "Why she opened to gates to let the dinosaurs through, to free them after I opened their cages? Yes, that's exactly why she did that." "The poor girl. I can't imagine what that must be like, it must have turned her whole world upside-down. You're sure you're ready to raise her... a kid like that, who might have mental issues after hearing that?" "Karen..." "It's a lot of work Claire." "I was park manager of Jurassic World for years, that was a lot of work too." "Yeah, even too much work to spend some time with your nephews." "You're brining that up again? Seriously? Well, I'm sorry the containment of the animals was so important. I'm sorry I couldn't reschedule my appointments. Are you happy now? I was just doing my job, Karen." "I know, I know, sorry. So... you're up for this huh? You're really up for this?" "Yes, I am." 

"Who's up for what?" Owen asked as he walked into the room. "My sister is questioning me, wanting to know if I'm really up for it to raise Maisie... if we get the rights to do so." "Ah. Oh, great, forgot we had to..." "Yes, that's gonna be fun. More courtrooms and all that. Mind you, we probably already had to because the dinosaurs might have escaped... and well... It might have kind of been my idea to get them from the island... I mean, I just needed some help for that and Eli Mills offered that." "Yeah, and they can't get to him cause he's dead. Great, can't wait." "Sorry?" "Hey, no need for you to be sorry, you just tried to do what was right. It's not your fault it all went to hell." "I just hope this time they decide to put Wu behind bars. He created both the Indominous and the Indoraptor." "Yeah, InGen should be shut down. As soon as possible." "But we'll probably get the "It's not their fault, they just did as they were told," story again." I huffed, "Bastards." Owen chuckled. "What?" "It's funny to hear you attempt to swear." "Shut up." He just kept grinning. "Wipe that grin off your face." "Hmm, no." "It's not funny." "Yes it is." "I'm trying to be serious." "I know, that's what makes it so funny." "That's... that's not funny." "It kinda is." "Can we please focus?" "Yes sir!" "Owen..." "Okay, I'll focus." 

But, before it was time to focus it was time to sleep. Now that Maisie had gone to bed we realized that we were exhausted. So... Owen and I went to bed. "Hmmm, this is a soft mattress," Owen mumbled as he laid next to me. "Yeah, it is." "Kinda bouncy too." "It is indeed." "Hey, how's your leg?" "It's good, why?" He pulled back the blankets to look at my leg, "Looks like it stopped bleeding by now. Still hurts?" "Not too much... when I don't put pressure on it." "Hmm, pity." "What's a pity?" "A hole in such a pretty leg." "That's the weirdest way in which a man ever tried to flirt with me, do you know that?" He shrugged, "You're welcome." I sighed and mumbled, "Idiot." I pulled the blankets back up and I pulled Owen down with it. "You know, if you want me to come down to your level you could just say so." "Owen." "What?" "No." "Okay..." "We ran from lava, almost drowned, ran from a dinosaur, we barely made it." "It's a good way to relieve some stress..." "No." When Owen finally stopped flirting we fell asleep, only to wake up again around six, when Karen had made dinner. She knocked on the door, loudly and yelled, "Dinner's ready." Maisie of course got a much gentler treatment. 

As we arrived at the dinner table, Grey and Zach were already sitting there. "Aunt Claire, nice to see you," Zach greeted me. "And Owen...?" "It's a long story." "Yeah, mom told me some of it." "So... Zach, heard you only stay here in the weekends now, huh?" "Well, yeah, I come here every Friday night and I leave every Monday morning. Which means I have to leave quite early... And what do you do now, Owen?" "I'm uh... building a cabin?" "In the woods?" Zach asked jokingly. "Yeah, and I'll drag pretty women there to do unspeakable things with them. Starting with your aunt." "Owen!" He winked at Zach, who tried to hide the fact that he did find it kind of amusing. "How about we just eat, huh," Karen came in between before the conversation could get any worse." Turned out the three of us were pretty hungry, but Karen had already thought of that. "People tend to be hungry after something shocking like that happens, because they usually forget to eat. Because they're busy surviving in other ways." 

After dinner Karen and I were doing the dishes while Owen was keeping the boys busy by telling them some of his wild stories. Maisie was listening to them too. "So... you're sure about... you and Owen?" It wasn't a question I had expected. "What?" "Well... he did, you know, leave you before." "Well, yes... but only because I told him to." "Really, you're still holding on to that?" "Well, yes, because I did tell him to." "Claire..." "It's the way it is, okay? And no, I'm not... that sure. I mean, it hasn't even been a day. But..." I sighed, "You do want it... him." "Yes. I know, it's weird. I mean, look how different we are... but... maybe that's a good thing." "Yeah... it might be... but what if he walks away again?" "Karen..." "I'm being an annoying older sister again, huh?" "You sound like mom again." "Oops." "Yeah, right. Like you're actually sorry." "So... you think you're gonna tell him any time soon, about-," "There's no time for that now, Karen. We got other things going on and I can't have... I mean... I don't want to go through that all again, not now. And... Owen he might get mad and... I can't handle that with the whole dinosaur thing going on again." "You have to tell him someday." "I know, now's just... not the time." "If you say so." 

*

Later that night we went back to bed, because miraculously we were still tired. "So, what were you and Karen talking about, huh?" "Oh, she just wants to know if I'm sure about... you know, you?" "What did you say?" "Well... I mean... I'm not 100% sure but..." "But what?" "Well... I know that I want this. That sounds weird, right?" He chuckled softly, "Sometimes you're kind of adorable. So, what's it, she's afraid you can't handle it if I would ever walk off again? Small chance. Or does she think you can't handle me?" He was teasing me now. "Oh please, if there's any one of us who can't handle the other than it's you." "Oh really? And why is that?" "Do you have any idea how tricky and fierce redheads are?" "Oh, so that's the case... Well I did have a little taste." "Hmmm, just a little taste huh? Poor you." "Yeah, poor me." "What you gonna do about it?" "Huh?" "You heard me." "What? What am I gonna do about it?" "Mhm." "Well, I'll show you what I'm gonna do about it." 

The next morning we woke up completely naked under the blankets. "Wow... what a night huh?" Owen said softly. "Yeah, that was good," I said with a smile as I turned to him. "Hey, any chance you might have been holding yourself back before?" "What?" "Because this was waaay better than before I left you." "Well... maybe, you'll never know." "So, you're not gonna tell me." "Nope." "Hmmm." He got up and almost walked out of the door. "Maybe you should put on some underwear before you leave this room." He looked down, "Ah, yes... that does sound like a good idea. Thanks." "You're welcome." He picked his underpants up from the ground where left it last night and then he walked out of the room, "See ya in a bit." 

"Hey, Claire, what time is it?" Owen asked as he walked back into the room. "I don't know, why?" "Because... well... the house is kinda empty..." "What?" I looked at the clock. "It's 1 a.m.!" "Well, that makes sense..." "Oh God. She's at our parents... I'm sure of that, because I should be there too." I rushed out of bed, got some clean clothing out of the closet. Yes, I have clothes at my sister's house, no, that's not weird. Then I rushed over to the bathroom. All the while Owen was just staring at me. 

Eventually we got to my parents' house, just the two of us, turns out Karen had taken Maisie with her. "I'm sorry were late," I said as my mother opened the door. Instead of saying anything she just gave me a hug. It made me realize that pretty much my whole family had thought that I was dead after what had happened on the island. "It's okay," she said, "We still got coffee and cake." My father came to the door and hugged me too as my mother made small talk with Owen. "I'm happy to see you, little girl." "Dad, I'm not little anymore." "I know, but you'll always be my little girl." Hearing that made me happy for some reason. "Sometimes I still see that stubborn little red haired girl, even now that you're a grown up. I think all parents have that. I have it with Karen too." "I wasn't that stubborn." "Even now you're still stubborn." "Da-ad." Owen and my mother were watching us, both looked as if they thought our conversation was amusing. "Wipe that smile off your face, Grady." "Nah, I kinda like keeping it where it is, thanks." My mom grinned. It looked quite like Karen when she found something amusing. Karen with grey hair. My mom used to have red hair like me, Karen got her blonde hair from our dad. 

"Maybe we should take this all inside, we'd like to hear your story firsthand," mom said as she almost shoved us into the house. "You mean Karen already told you most of it but you need more detail?" "That's exactly what you mother means. She actually wanted to call you, but I told her that we knew enough for now." "We'd like to know more about the girl... and about..." she didn't finish her sentence, but I saw her glance at Owen. "Ah." So Karen hadn't told them much about Maisie it seems. "Well, the girl's Maisie Lockwood. She's the granddaughter of Benjamin Lockwood." "That's the man who offered you help to rescue those oversized lizards, isn't it?" My dad asked. "They're not oversized lizards dad." "Actually, dinosaurs have more in common with birds than they do with modern day reptiles," Owen told him. "Ah... they're still oversized lizards if you ask me." "Who are oversized lizards?" Maisie asked as we walked into my parents' living room. "Dinosaurs," my father replied. "But they have more in common with birds than with modern day reptiles," she said. "You can give up already, Maisie, I already tried telling him that, but he doesn't want to listen." "Where do you think his youngest daughter got her stubbornness from?" I said teasingly. "Well, you didn't get it from me, I still got it myself." "I'm glad you admit it," mom said. Maisie smiled. "Now, you want me to start to call those dinosaurs oversized chickens?" "How about oversized turkeys?" Owen suggested. "Ah, yeah, turkeys are little shits, even more so than chickens." "Dad..." "Oh, oops, there are children here. I meant to say, turkeys are little human droppings even more so than chickens." "Dad!" Maisie just laughed. He winked at her. I walked over to the couch and sat down next to Karen with a sigh. 

"Uh, Claire?" "Yes?" "You got something," shepointed at her collarbone. "Huh?" I took out my phone, switched to front facingcamera and saw a big purple bruise on my collarbone. "Oh god..." Karen lookedamused. "Owen," I groaned. Karen started to laugh. "That's not funny! Mom anddad... Oh god they must have seen it... How could I miss it, I even showered beforeI came here and all!" "And you missed a hickey? Good job Claire." "Shut up."She continued to laugh silently. "I'm gonna murder that guy... he knows I go tomy parents on Saturdays. Stop laughing." "Sorry, it's just. I don't get how youmissed it." She continued to laugh, but she did hand me the scarf she waswearing. "Here, try to hide it before anyone mentions it." "They have alreadyseen it anyway." I still took the scarf to hide it though. Just to be sure.Just as I was done adjusting it Owen walked back into the living room withcoffee, cake and my parents. He saw the scarf around my neck and grinned. Iglared at him, which only made him grin even wider. Idiot, I thought. He's such an idiot.


	2. And into the courtroom

"Well... that was a long day, wasn't it?" Owen and I just spent a whole day at court trying to get the rights over Maisie in the morning and for the dinosaur shit in the afternoon and evening. It was two days after the day we spend at my parents... Meaning this whole going to court thing again had lasted for two days now. But, surprisingly, we had gotten guardian rights over Maisie, which was mostly because she had no one else to go to, so that was positive. "Yeah, it was. Glad it's over now." "You know we'll have to go back tomorrow, right?" I groaned, "Can we maybe not talk about that right now?" "Yeah... I wish we could, but we need to find a way to get out of this... you know, to put the blame on someone else, cause we're technically blameless." "They don't see it that way." "Yeah, I know. Cause I was the park manager and gave permission for the creation for the Indoraptor and you're the guy who gave them the idea of trainable dinosaurs by training the Velociraptors." "Yup, just that." "And of course InGen is not to blame at all for creating two damn killer dinosaurs!" Owen chuckled, "Killer dinosaurs." "Oh you know what I mean." "Yeah, it's just... most dinosaurs are-," "I know... just. They're basically worse killing machines than normal dinosaurs, okay?" "Yeah, I've got it, I've got," he said as he raised his hands up slightly. "Thank you." I sighed and covered my face with my hands, "How are we going to do this? How are we gonna get out if this? I mean, they pretty much didn't believe us last time... Did they?" "Well, we only had to pay for the funerals of the dead." "I would have done that anyway..." "Really?" "Well... I did authorize the creation of the I-rex and thanks to that I was kind off the one to blame." "God, you're not going there again, are you? It was that bunch of shitheads called InGen that didn't want to tell us what that monster was made of, they're the ones to blame, Claire." "I know, I just can't help but feel a little guilty sometimes... well, more than a little, but that isn't the point. It's just that if I hadn't authorized it it wouldn't have been there." "I know... but that doesn't make you the one to blame, okay." "Okay." "Now let's eat something and go to bed, shall we? We gotta get up early tomorrow." "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." 

The next day was worse than I had imagined. I thought, silly me, that maybe they might listen to us for once, but no, again there was the tale of, "But InGen could not have created the Indominous-Rex if you had not authorized its creation." I sighed before answering, knowing that whatever I was going to say probably wasn't good enough for them. "I know that very well, but you really think that me not authorizing their project would have stopped them? You really think they wouldn't have done it behind my back? Because I know for certain that that is what they would have done. Mr. Wu wouldn't have let anyone stop him. The creation of the Indoraptor should have made that clear to you. InGen wanted to create an army of dinosaurs, whether it was legal or not!" "Is that really what you think, ma'am, that Mr. Wu would willingly risk the lives of many people just to create an army of dinosaurs." "I'm pretty sure that's the case, yes. He's been on this project since it started, since John Hammond hired him to create his dinosaurs for him. He only saw it as a way to make money at first, but now he's become too committed to InGen's cause of creating an army. He probably even thinks they could keep our world safe." "So what you're trying to tell us is that Mr. Wu is a dangerous man?" "I've been trying to tell you that for years, you've only been too stubborn to listen." "Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this, miss Dearing. We'd like to hear what Mr. Grady has to say." 

"I am pretty sure she's right." "And why is that, Mr. Grady?" "When I worked at the park as an animal behaviorist I used to work with this man called Vic Hoskins. He, as it turned out, had some ties with Henry Wu and InGen. And he kept telling me that we should train the Raptors to be a living weapon." "And you were against this?" "Of course I was against this! They are wild animals, they can learn commands, yes, but you can't control them, not really. But Hoskins didn't see that." "And how did you find out that he had ties with InGen?" "When we were on the run we went back to the lab, there we found Hoskins commanding some of InGen's people as they were loading embryos and data into boxes to take off with all that." "And why have you not told us this before?" "Because you didn't ask me to share my damn thoughts three years ago, man!" "Mr. Grady, would you please remain calm?" "Yeah, I'd love to, but you're kind of annoying me." "And why is that?" "Because you act like we're the ones to blame! We didn't do this! It was InGen, how is that not clear to you? They have been doing this for years! Remember when they brought the T-Rex to the mainland?" "That was an accident." "No it wasn't, they wanted to make a damn dinosaur zoo!" "And isn't that exactly what Jurassic World was?" "Yes, it was, but at least it wasn't on the mainland and at least there wasn't a pissed of T-Rex that had been separated from it's young." "This is just one accident Mr. Grady." "Oh really? You wanna know what else they did? Maybe you should ask some of the people who've been on this from the start, like Ian Malcolm, Allan Grant or Dr. Sattler." "That's in intriguing idea... We will think of that." "Good." "Thank you Mr. Grady. You can sit down now. We would like to question some of the other people who were with you on the island." 

Of course they had to question some of the people I'd rather not have dragged into this, like Zia and Franklin. But they defended us, so I guess it might have been a good thing. Especially Zia, who didn't seem to be fazed by the room full of people and the judges or well... anything. She pretty much spoke up to the authorities, loudly... She clearly wasn't happy to be there and she was angry that we got the blame of what had happened. Franklin did... well, he did good. He told them what had happened, how we had been tricked and how there was no way that Owen and I could be to blame in this. The judges seemed to listen to both of them with interest. But at the end of the day we still hadn't come any further. "We would like to see you all again tomorrow." And so we left. 

"Why can't they just?" "See that we're not to blame?" Owen suggested. I might have been about to say something else but I guess this was good too. "Yes. Why can't they see that?" "Well, I don't know... the jury didn't seem to be too angry at us this time." "Hmmm, maybe. Also, the fact that they dragged Franklin and Zia into this, was that really necessary?" "You could just say thank you, you know?" We were standing outside of the courtroom as everyone left and Zia walked up to us. "Oh, hey." "How ya doing?" "How does it look?" "You look frustrated. Maybe you should help her be less frustrated, if you know what I mean," she said to Owen with a wink. "Yeah... I know what you mean," Owen said as he winked back at her. I sighed. "Come on Claire, loosen up a little, it could have been worse," Zia said. "I know... I just wish it was over." "Yeah, I get that. Hey, Franklin! Over here," Zia spotted Franklin it seemed. He came over and asked us how we were doing. "Not too bad, not too good either," Owen told him. "You guys really want this to be over, huh?" "Yes," we both answered. "Did you guys just answer at the same time?" "Yes." "They did it again..." "They communicate telepathically, Franklin, they can read each other's minds." "What?" "So, nice speech you gave there." "You really think it was good?" "For someone who's as easily scared and or intimidated as you are, yeah." "That was unnecessary." Zia shrugged, "Maybe." "You did good too. The jury seemed to like your attitude." "What can I say? I am very likeable." "Sometimes." "So, you guys really don't mind helping us, right?" I asked them. "No, of course not," Franklin replied. "I've always wanted to yell at some judges in a courtroom filled with people, so this was fun." "Sometimes I really question your life choices, Zia." "Hey, you hired me." "That's true." Owen had found her comment rather amusing and was grinning behind my back, "I can see why the jury liked your spirit. I bet they're as done with this as we are, ya know?" "Yeah, they've been sitting here as long as we have and they have to come back tomorrow too. God I hope they never ask me to be part of a jury." "Let's just hope tomorrow will be the last of it, shall we?" I said. We all agreed on that. 

But of course life never goes the way you want it to go and we had to go to court for seven more days. Yes, I know that's a week. Why? Well, because they wanted to question more people. Those people included Ian Malcolm, Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler. Just as Owen had suggested. Weirdly enough they were on our side and not just when it came to our fight against InGen. It took them and us all those seven days to convince the court, the judges and the jury that InGen was the one at fault here, but after that the jury was convinced that the whole situation was InGen's fault and that Owen and I were innocent of what had happened at the Lockwood estate. They didn't even blame us for not stopping Maisie from releasing the dinosaurs, because stopping her from doing so would have been against her morals and would have hurt her emotionally. Not really the verdict I expected, but it helped us get away from there so you won't hear me complain about it for a second. 

"We should definitely go somewhere to celebrate," Zia said as we walked out of the courtroom. "You are very right," Owen agreed with her. "This is indeed a cause for a celebration." "Yeah, we should like... totally hang out," Franklin said. "You're new with this stuff, aren't you?" Zia asked him. "Yeah... was it that bad?" She shrugged, "Well, at least you're trying." "So, where should we go?" Owen asked. "I know some place," Zia said. "Do we have to trust that?" "That's up to you, boss, but I know a place." "You know you don't have to call me boss, right?" "Yeah, I know, just funny to do so from time to time, also, you can be kinda bossy, so it's a fitting nickname." "Well... thanks..." "She does have a point, Claire," Owen said. "Thank you..." "Oh come on... You know I like you." I smiled slightly, "Yeah, I do." "And you also like me, right?" "You think I'd put up with you if I didn't?" "Please don't go kiss each other now or something, you're not drunk enough for that yet," Zia said. "What? You planning to feed us alcohol?" Owen asked her, then he turned to me, "Where did you even find her?" "She applied for an internship at Jurassic World, and I was planning to take her on but... you know, Indominous-Rex ruining people's lives..." "Ah... Well, she's nice." "She can be." "You see me as a friend," Zia said to me, "just admit it." "Did I ever say I didn't?" "Well... no." "Well then." Zia smiled slightly, "Yeah, I guess that's okay then. So, you guys wanna come to that place I said I knew or?" "Sure," Owen said for the both of us, "we just need to get our jackets first." "Okay, we'll wait for you." "Are you dragging me into this?" Franklin asked her before we walked off. "Learn to live, Franklin," I heard her reply. 

"Hey, uh... would you two care for a chat, maybe?" We heard someone ask us as we were getting our jackets. We both turned to face Dr. Ellie Sattler. "Uh, yeah, sure," I said feeling kinda surprised. She smiled, "Thank you." "Well, chat away, Dr. Sattler," Owen said. "You can call me Ellie. I uh... I liked to talk about the girl... Does she know what she is?" "Yes, she does," I replied cautiously, "why?" "Well... as a mother I'm kind of... you know..." "Yeah, I get it, concerned with the wellbeing of children, whether you know them or not, my sister has that too." "Ah," she seemed to be glad that someone understood what she was going about. "So... you just want to know if she can handle it?" Owen asked her. "I guess, yes. I mean it must have come as quite a shock to her, she lived a life that was technically a lie for, what was it?" "Nine years, her whole life." "I just don't understand how Mr. Lockwood could keep that from her." "To protect her, maybe," I suggested, "just imagine having to live with the knowledge that you're a clone. It seems quite a burden to me." "you have gotten guardian right over her, right?" We nodded. "What are you going to do with her?" "We were planning to go to therapy with her." "And you'd stay there with her?" "Well... we might need some therapy ourselves after the whole dinosaur fiasco." "I can imagine," she sighed, "I'm glad InGen finally gets the blame it deserves." "Yeah, so are we," Owen said. "Is it weird if I say that I've been following this? You know, what happened? I was actually in the courtroom the first few days." "You were?" I asked in surprise. "Guess I can't really let go of it... of the dinosaur thing... Maybe I need therapy too..." She stared off into the distance for a while, then she shook her head, "How's your leg?" She asked me. "It's getting better, still not comfortable to walk on though." "Yeah, I thought I noticed that." We chatted for a while longer, then suddenly another voice sounded behind us. 

"Well, well, well, won't ya look at that. Dr. Ellie Sattler." She looked up, "Dr. Malcolm," she replied, "it's been a long time." Ian Malcolm walked over to stand beside Dr. Sattler, "And you two are the people they were trying to blame huh? With some reason, I might add." "Ian..." "No, he's right," I said. "I did authorize the creation of the I-Rex... I just didn't know they'd make such a monster out of it." "Guess you learned a lesson huh? Never trust InGen." "I learned that, yes." "Good, very good. And you must be the raptor trainer." "Animal behaviorist actually, but yes, I did train some raptors." "Must have been quite an... quite an experience, huh?" "Yeah, it was, very different from any other animal I have worked with." "Yeah, they're clever." "They are indeed, but they can also show compassion. One of my raptors did in particular." "Raptors showing compassion, well I never thought I'd hear someone say that." 

"Alan, welcome to the conversation, look at that, we got the gang back together," Malcolm reacted to the appearance of Alan Grant. "Yeah.... The gang... So you said those animals can show compassion huh? Would you care to explain that?" "Well.. I trained them since they were little... one of my animals, I called her blue, she actually showed compassion. She came to me when I pretended to be hurt... as if she wanted to check if I was okay. It was as if she... wanted to help me, you know, wanted to make me feel better." Out of context, Owen actually looked kinda cute when he talked about the Raptors. "That's actually very interesting. Did she only do that with you?" "No, she also did it with the other members of the pack... who took it over from her later on. They actually learn from each other. It's why they were such a tight knit pack. And they listened to her, because she showed compassion I think. People tend to listen to other people who show them compassion too, right?" "Yeah, they do. Interesting, I never thought Raptors would show any kind of resemblance to humans apart from the fact that they're as clever as they are." "Yeah, I honestly didn't expect it either." "Yeah uh... not to ruin this emotional moment for the both of you, but... Alan, Ellie and I actually had a question for you guys." "And... that is?" I asked. "Well... you know that those dinosaurs are all running free now, right?" "Yes, we are aware of that." "And they are a danger to humanity." "Some of them are." "Yeah, so, we were wondering if maybe you guys had a plan on what to do with them next, since you do have some responsibility over those animals, right?" "Well... some, yes," Owen said. "Have you thought of anything yet?" "No... but there haven't been any casualties yet, have there?" "No, but we'd like to avoid that." "So do we, maybe you can help us think of something." "Ah, clever, she's clever. Yeah, I think we can. You got some way for me to reach you, like a phone number?" "Sure," I took a card out of my wallet, "here." "Oh, you got your own card, fancy." He himself wrote three phone numbers down on an empty paper in a notebook, then he ripped it out and handed it to me, "Call us when you think of something. Although of course you are allowed to call for other thing too," he said with a wink. "I'll call you when I think of something," was all I said. Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler glared at Ian. "What? Can't I joke around a bit? Okay, fine, I'll just leave then. My taxi is here anyway," he said as he walked off. "Sorry for that. Ian is a bit of a..." "A flirt?" "Actually I wanted to say that he used to be a playboy, but I guess flirt's also good," Ellie said, "Thank you, by the way, for accepting our help." "Well, you got experience with dinosaurs too, it only seems fair to me," I told her. She smiled, "Good luck with the girl." "Thank you." 

"Well, you kept us waiting long enough, decided to go slug mode?" "Hi to you too, Zia." "What happened?" "We were held up in a conversation." "With who?" "Dr. Settler, Dr. Grant and Dr. Malcolm." "What? That's pretty cool actually." "Yeah, except for the fact that Malcolm tried to flirt with me." "Huh, I never really have that problem." "Why not?" "Because I just tell them, I'm lesbian and they immediately apologize. Well, some do, the ones who don't I just glare at until they leave." "Huh, interesting way of getting rid of them, I guess I should try the glaring thing." "Hmm... I don't think it would work with your face. You'd just look like an angry bunny." "What?" "She means you'd look cute," Owen "translated". "No." "Yeah, kinda." "No." "You actually would, Claire." "I can look angry." "Yeah, you're cute when you're angry," Owen said. I glared at him. "Awww." "You're so annoying sometimes, do you know that?" He laughed, "not my fault you're proving our point." "Franklin, do I look cute when I'm angry?" "Well... not when you're like really angry." "Okay, then she's kinda scary, I'll admit that," Zia agreed. "I think she looks hot when she's really angry," Owen felt the need to put in. "Thank you for that opinion... even though nobody asked you." "Awww... so cute." I sighed, "Idiots... I'm surrounded by idiots" "Hey, look at it this way," Zia said with amusement, "we're pretty much your only friends by now, so we're kinda your idiots." "Is that supposed to make it better?" "Maybe, maybe not. Shall we go?" "Yeah, sounds great." 

"So, with a place you mean your parents' basement?" We had arrived at Zia's house. "Well, they aren't home... I got some beer down there, some wine too for the more classy people amongst us," she glanced at me, "or if you'd like to get drunk faster, all the same to me. I got a whole shitload of snacks down there. I got music, games, movies. I didn't say I wanted a big celebration, did I?" "this actually sounds quite good to me," Franklin said. Owen seemed to think about it for a while, then he decided to just roll with it, "Yeah, sounds like fun." "Well, okay then." "Good, so... what you guys wanna do huh?" 

Eventually we played some games, danced like nobody was watching after we had a few beers, then we decided to watch a movie. Zia actually had a lot of movies down there, including some documentaries on dinosaurs. We eventually settled on watching The Lion King for some strange reason, after which we watched The Lion King ½ followed by The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride. None of us had any idea where the whole sudden Disney theme came from. As we were watching we also talked about how Disney was making a remake of The Lion King and we wondered if they'd make "live action" remakes of the sequels. "Probably depends on the success of the first one," Franklin said. "It's Disney and it's pretty much an old classic. There's quite a big chance that it will be successful," Zia told him. "I guess that's true, yes." "Yeah, but what's the point if they're not keeping in all the songs," Owen brought up. "good question," Zia said, "But, you know, as long as they keep Hakuna Matata I'm good." "Also a reason why it might be successful, they have Beyoncé," I brought in. "Hmmm, yeah, but then they would have to make her sing..." "She's Nala, they can't cut out her duet with Simba, otherwise the love story would make less sense to the kids." "Yeah, okay. I do think they'll keep Can you feel the love tonight." "Honestly, I do want to see the remake now, thanks." "You're welcome, Claire." "Hey, maybe we can take Maisie," Owen suggested. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." "Yeah, you guys are her guardians now, right?" Franklin asked. "Yes," we both replied. "Huh, never really expected that, although... nevermind," Zia said. "Although what?" Owen asked. "Nothing." "What, you can't think I can be a guardian? I'm a great guardian!" "Yeah, if you say so, Beefcake." "I'll prove it to you, I'll be one of the best guardians of the galaxy!" "Yeah, whatever." 

Sometime later Owen and Franklin were playing table football, which Franklin seemed to be quite good at to be fair. Zia and I were watching them from the couch. "Sorry for what happened during the movies," she said suddenly. "Huh?" "I almost... slipped out, told your secret. You know, the one you want to keep from," she glanced at Owen. "Oh... yeah... that..." "Yeah... So, you think you're gonna tell him any time soon." "I guess I'll have to... although we'll be pretty busy with Maisie pretty soon. We found a psychiatrist for her." "Ah... yeah I'll guess she'll need that. And you guys need to work on your relationship with her and with each other." "I don't think telling him would... you know... improve the situation." "So you plan on not telling him?" "Well, at least not now. I mean, I do want to tell him it's just..." "Not the right time?" "Yeah, I guess it's something like that. Then again... is it ever the right time for..." "I guess not, no. But are you sure you're not keeping it from him because you don't wanna go through all that again?" I sighed, "I don't know. Maybe." "I guess it really sucks... Can't know it of course, but, you know, from what I've heard." "Yeah... it really does. It sucks quite a lot to be honest with you." "Well... I guess you'll just have to wait to tell him till you're ready then. I mean, I do understand that you don't wanna tell him now that there's still a lot going on and all. I'm not saying it's smart, I mean, it's not smart at all, but you probably figured that out for yourself already." "Yeah, I did." "But, I do understand it." "Thanks... I guess." "You're welcome, Boss." "Are you ever going to stop calling me that?" "Nope, I'm going for the dynamic duo, Boss and Beefcake." "Sometimes you really go from concerned friend to making no sense in zero point five seconds flat, you know that?" "And right now is one of those moments, you're welcome." I sighed, "You just be glad I needed a paleo-veterinarian." "Oh, I am. It gave me quite the opportunity. I mean, I actually got to work on a real dinosaur. That was awesome." "Yeah, and I got to ride my old friend the T-Rex thanks to that... That was less awesome." "I heard rumors you let that thing chase you once." "Only so we could ring down the I-Rex." "Wait, you actually did that? How?" "I ran away from it with a flare." "Huh... effective." "Yeah, it was. Effective and very very scary." 

A few hours later Owen and I took a taxi back home, or well... a taxi to Karen's house. Karen had insisted on supporting us, so she went with us and so she was also our personal taxi. But now we needed a real taxi because she was probably asleep already, and because we had taken Zia's car to her house. We might have made it a little late... Just a little. I mean it was only twelve o'clock when we got there... Okay, yes, that's midnight, but that's not that late. Karen got home later than that when shew as a teenager. Once she came home at six a.m. after she went out with her friends. God our parents got mad at her that day. I always made sure to be home before that after then, the latest I ever got home was half past five, because I knew my parents would be asleep for at least fifteen more minutes. They never found out that I was home way past "curfew" because I actually had to be home by 12... but hey, they were asleep, so no harm done right? Karen found out though, but instead of telling our parents she scolded me herself. Seriously, sometimes having an older sister is a bit like having a second mom, especially if it's one who's as protective as Karen. 

Owen and I tried to sneak upstairs as silently as we could, but Karen still heard us. "And where did you guys come from?" I stopped in my tracks, then I wondered why I did that, "Karen, we're over 30..." "I know, but you got responsibilities." I sighed, "Honestly Karen, we're not that late." At that point Zach walked past us as he made his way up to his room, "Hey guys," he said calmly as if nothing was wrong. "And where do you come from?" "I was at Deke's mom... you know, one of my friends..." This was our chance to escape Karen's unnecessary speech and we too it gladly. She scolded Zach, but she didn't bother us after. "Did that really just happen?" "Karen can be a little bit overprotective sometimes," I told Owen. "Huh, must have been fun growing up with her." "Well, it wasn't bad. Just a little annoying from time to time. I bet all older siblings can be annoying from time to time." "They can!" Grey shouted from his room, it was only then that I realized we had been talking out loud. Stupid alcohol. "Younger siblings are even more so annoying!" Zach shouted. "Well excuse me?" I said. "You heard the boy!" Karen said jokingly, "older siblings are the best!" "Well, excuse me, but, no!" "I agree with aunt Claire!" "Mom's right though, the older siblings are the best!" "The older siblings are the first try, the younger ones are more perfected," I said jokingly. "Oh... that's low, you devilish redhead," Karen said. Grey laughed and shouted, "Aunt Claire, one, mom, zero. Go aunt Claire." Even Zach seemed to find it funny, for I was sure I heard him laugh too. "Good job, devilish redhead," Owen said with a wink. "Oh well, we're just joking around." "Yeah, I know. Almost makes me sad that I never had a sibling to do this kind of stuff with, ya know. Almost..." 

The next morning when we were lying in bed Owen suddenly had quite a bright idea. "Hey... how about we go look for a school for Maisie?" I was still half asleep and couldn't think of a better answer than, "Hmm?" "Well... I mean, she's nine, so she should go to school. So... she'll learn to interact with people her age, I think that would also help with her therapy, you know. I mean, maybe if she gets some friends she might learn to open up about it a bit better..." "Hmmm, yeah." "Claire?" "I'm listening, just sleepy." "Ah, yeah, I have that too sometimes. But... do you think it's a good idea?" "Yeah, she can make friends and she can learn. It would beneficial for her." "you are sleepy but you still use words like beneficial... you really are weird, do you know that?" "You're welcome." "Oh well, guess I kinda like weird." "Weird's your middle name." "Yeah, most definitely. So you think it's a good idea?" "I already said yes, didn't I?" "Wow, you're a little cranky, didn't you get enough sleep?" "Alcohol made me do more than I thought I would do after I got home..." "Ah... yes... still tired from that?" "No, more like I got a bit of a headache." "Ah, alcohol too?" "I guess." "Yeah, it was easier when we were eighteen huh?" "Yup..." "Maybe you shouldn't have had so much wine..." "Says the guy who had three beers and two of those little bottles of apple cider." He shrugged, "I didn't say I don't have a headache, did I?" "Nope. Now how about we lay here and be hungover together, huh?" "That sounds like a plan." "I thought so." "A pretty good plan." "I know right?" "A plan your sister probably won't agree with." "Oh boohoo, poor Karen, I'll just pretend to feel sick then, screw it, I'm staying in bed." Owen laughed, silently, but I could feel the bed shake a little. "You think she'll fall for that?" "She has fallen for that trick many times. I've become somewhat of an actress whilst living with her... and my parents." "Ah... never would have thought that." 

As I had expected, Karen actually fell for it. Or she just went with it because she knew we had been drinking and she had decided to leave us alone. Didn't really matter, because she brought us aspirins and some water, she also brought us some fruit from time to time, which was actually quite nice of her. However, she did call us down for dinner, but by then both Owen and I were feeling a lot better. So we took place at the table and talked about what we did last night. Karen, as it turned out, just knew that we were both hungover, which is why she left us alone, but why she did still make sure that we ate something. I guess that's one of the pros of having an older sister. Grey seemed to find our story amusing and he wondered if there was any chance of him meeting Zia and Franklin once. "Maybe," I told him. That seemed to be enough for him for now. After dinner we watched America's Got Talent where we liked to give commentary on either the act itself or the commentary of the judges. Sometimes we even commented on some of the things they were wearing. Or the lack of things they were wearing when it came to some acts. Not that those acts were too bad... It's just... there wasn't much... clothing. 

Eventually Owen brought Maisie to bed and Karenfelt free to put forth that one question again, "so, are you going to tell himany time soon?" I sighed. "Because you should tell him." "I know." "I mean, hehas the right to know." "I know." "But you're not planning on telling him anytime soon, are you?" "Karen... we're kinda... busy right now..." "With what?" "Well,Maisie is going to a psychiatrist soon, and we might need some therapy too, sothere's that. Uh... We're going to look for a school that Maisie can go to, Imean, she needs to go to school. And we're also thinking of something we coulddo with the dinosaurs that are now... you know... walking around freely." "Ithought you were done with those dinosaurs." "Well, we're actually helping Dr.Grant, Dr. Sattler and Dr. Malcolm think of something." "Oh... well... that island...you know, the one of Benjamin Lockwood, that really exists, right? Maybe youcould send them there." "That's... a very good idea, thanks. I'll call themtomorrow." There was a short silence between us. "You should still tell him though." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's chapter two. Everyone is still alive. Something feels off, doesn't it? 
> 
> *raptor noises*


	3. Damn we gotta go back to the friggin estate

That night it was hard to sleep. Why? Well, two reasons. One, because tomorrow I was going to call the doctors Malcolm, Grant and Sattler to propose the Lockwood island as a safe place for the dinosaurs. Two, because, however annoying she might be, Karen was right. I should tell Owen. I thought. I should tell him and just be done with it. But... what if he gets angry though? I mean, it's a pretty big secret I've been keeping from him for quite a long time. It would only be normal for him to get angry and that won't be very helpful. Besides, these times are way too stressful. It would be better to wait a while longer. So that's what I decided to do. I decided to wait a while longer, even though waiting is partly what caused that mess. 

The next morning I woke up after about three hours of sleep, feeling like I had been sleeping on a bed made of cacti. Needless to say I felt a bit like a sloth. Everything went too fast for me to actually keep up with it. Sadly I had to, mostly because I had to call Malcolm, Grant and Sattler. Fortunately that was all that was on my task list for that day. So I did it early in the morning, mostly just to be rid of it. 

"Good morning," Dr. Sattler said as she picked up the phone. "Good morning, to you too." "Ah, Claire Dearing. Have you already thought of some place to put the dinosaurs?" "Well, actually my sister came up with it." "That's quick. What were you thinking of?" "The island created by the people of Mr. Lockwood. It actually exists. It would be safe for the animals since it's man made and it's far away from human population." "Sounds like a good option. I will inform Ian and Alan." "That would be great." "Thank you for your help, miss Dearing." "You're welcome." Dr. Sattler hung up. 

"Well, that was a short phone call," Owen said from the other side of the table. "It was long enough," I said. "I guess. Hey, do we even know where this island is?" Damn, I knew I forgot something. "Your face says no. Oh well, there must be some way to figure it out, right?" "There should be a map in the Lockwood estate." "The Lockwood estate? Well, that's great," the sarcasm dripped off his voice as he said that. "Yeah..." "Well, guess we got no other choice right? I mean, that place might be crawling with dinosaurs, cause that's where they were locked up and all and some might be scared to explore this new world cause that's how animals are, but we need that map." "Yeah, we do need that map." "So, when are we going back?" I sighed, "Soon I'm afraid." 

Luckily soon wasn't as soon as I thought it would be, because we had to arrange everything with the doctors Grant, Sattler and Malcolm, who all wanted to come along, just to make sure that somebody would get to the map and try to get the dinosaurs to safety. I also had to deal with a stubborn young woman named Zia who somehow had heard of our plans and who had announced that she'd come along. I told her it could be dangerous, she just said, "I don't care." So that was that, because I knew that whenever she set her mind on something there was no way to stop her. It was one of the reasons why I had hired her. The third problem was our tech guy. Because we were gonna need a tech guy and none of the doctors knew a tech guy so I was going to have to ask Franklin. Even before I called him, a week after calling doctor Sattler about the island, I it wasn't gonna be easy to convince him. 

"Claire?" "Hey Franklin." "Why are you calling me?" "I got a question for you." "Uh oh." "It's not too bad." "Not too bad?" "Well, look, you know how the dinosaurs need to be... captured and send to a secured area, right?" "Yeah, I do." "Well to do that we need to go to the Lockwood estate. And we're gonna need a tech guy for that, because, well, you remember last time, a lot of stuff has been torn apart by dinosaurs and we can't exactly go during the day, cause it's basically locked down by the police." "You want me to do something illegal?" "Well... yes... but it's to save the world... kinda." "Aren't there still a lot of dinosaurs there?" "Possibly." "And you want me to go there?" "To help us, Owen and Zia will be there too, and Dr. Grant, Dr. Sattler and Dr. Malcolm." "A bunch of old people, cause that's helpful against dinosaurs." "Well... they're slower, the dinosaurs might go for them instead of for us." "That's harsh." "It's also true." "Still, I don't think going back to that estate is a very good idea. It's certainly very bad for my mental health." "Yeah, you think it's good for my mental health? You realize I have dealt with those creatures twice by now, right?" "You can handle a lot more than me." I sighed, "Dammit Franklin, we need you!" "Can be, but I don't want to get involved with dinosaurs again. Good day Claire," and with that he hung up. 

"Damn it." "I take it he doesn't want to help us," Owen said. "Of course not. He's as scared as a chicken." Owen made some chicken noises, which granted him a very annoyed look from me. "What?" "It's not funny! We might need a tech guy!" "What for?" "Owen, it's a very expensive estate, it probably has a very expensive security system." "Yeah, that makes sense." "We might need a tech guy to get past that, since the police probably turned it on again after investigation." "So when we go in we'll set the alarm off and the police will come. So what? We can explain ourselves, right?" "Yes, but it'll be all over the news." "And InGen will find out..." "And we don't want that." "No, we don't." "So we're gonna need a tech guy." "I might know someone." "You might?" "Yeah, one of my friends from the navy, one of them is really tech savvy." "You think he'd want to help?" "I should ask him." "Yeah, you should." 

He called his friend, a Dutch man that he met in the navy called Huib, the next day to meet in Owen's favorite pub. Good thing the guy lived in the U.S. now, he didn't even live too far away. And he was up for the beer as long as Owen paid for it. Men. Strange creatures. I went along as well, just to get the measure of the guy. And maybe because I was curious to know a little more about Owen. Who he was and what he did before he came to the island... because he never really talked about his past much. Which is a little weird if you ask me, especially if you're in a relationship. Which we were, some time ago, and again at that point. Says the woman who's keeping a really big secret from him. The voice in my head said. Shut up. I told it. 

That afternoon we went to get that beer with Huib. When I saw him I wondered if all those nave man are built like him and Owen, cause, well... damn. Then I thought that they probably are, cause it's hard work and you need to have muscles to do that stuff. Anyway, he was a muscular guy only slightly shorter than Owen with a brown beard and mustache and long hair, at least for a man, that he wore in a man bun. The length of his hair made me think he wasn't with the navy anymore. He was wearing a pair of dark grey jeans with chains and studs, a lighter colored grey shirt and a black leather jackets with more studs. There was a tattoo of some kind of triangle with a circle and a vertical line in it on his wrist. He looked a little like a biker, or maybe a Viking in modern day clothes. 

"Owen, man, it's good to see you," he said as he got up and gave him some weird handshake. It was only after that that he noticed that Owen wasn't alone, "Who's the lady?" "That's my girlfriend," Owen answered, "Claire." I really like the sound of that. "Dude, she's pretty!" "Yeah, I know right? But that's not why we're here." "No, we're here for beer." "Well... not exactly. See, we got a question for you." "Well, if that question is a threeso-," "DUDE, NO!" "I was kidding." He actually was kidding. "Yeah right. Just sit down man." We all sat down in the booth where Huib was sitting before we arrived. Owen ordered three beers before he spoke. 

"Well, let's get to business," Owen started as the beers arrived. "You need me for something, don't you?" "Yeah, we do," Owen replied. "So, what do you need me for?" "We need you to break into the Lockwood estate to get a map," I told him. "The Lockwood estate, isn't that the building where those dinosaurs come from. Hey Owen, you used to work with dinosaurs, right... Wait a minute, what happened there... was that you guys?" "Yeah, that was us," Owen said calmly. "And now you need to get back in that probably dinosaur infested place... because?" Owen looked at me. "We need a map that's hidden away there. It will give us the location of the island where the dinosaurs should have been brought to after the rescue mission." "Well, that rescue mission turned out pretty well huh?" "I didn't know I'd be betrayed!" "Wow, she's a feisty one, isn't she?" "Don't call her that, she doesn't like it." He shrugged, "It's kinda a ginger stereotype. So, what do you need me for." "We need you to get in without the alarm going off," Owen told him. "Hmmm, doesn't sound too hard. I could do that." "So, you want to help?" "Only if you buy me second beer when I'm done with this one." "You don't want to hear the consequences?" I asked him. "Scratches, bruises, bite marks, broken bones loss of limbs or life." "Yeah... that's about it," I said, "physically." "Yeah, it can give me nightmares, nothing new." "Well, welcome to the team, Huib," Owen said with a smile. 

We all stayed for a while, drinking a few more beers and talking about the "upcoming challenge" as Huib called it. We discussed a date on which Huib would be available. A question which we had to discuss with the doctor trio and Zia as well, but we decided to leave that for when we'd be back at Karen's place. 

"So that hybrid made a hole in your leg, huh?" Huib asked after we told him what had happened at the estate. "Well, basically, yes." "And you still managed to help Owen out huh?" "Yes." I have to admit I sounded kinda proud, and rightfully so of course. "Badass." "Thank you." "And you, Owen, you played prey." "I did." "You're crazy man." "Yeah, I know." "And that thing's dead now, huh?" "Yeah. It is." "They don't have a way to make another one?" "Well," I said, "if InGen finds a way in... they could use the DNA from the dead Indoraptor to create another one." "Sounds like we should take care of that as well then, if the cops haven't done that already." "Let's hope the cops already took care of that then. I won't be comfortable dragging a dead dinosaur along," I said. "Yeah, me neither," Owen agreed. 

That night when we were back at Karen's I called Dr. Sattler to arrange a date with her on which we could break into the Lockwood estate. "Do you guys really need to go back there?" Maisie asked after we picked a time and date. "Well, yes, we need to get the dinosaurs some place where they can't hurt anyone, right?" "Well... yes..." "And there is a map with the coordinations of the island in your grandfather's office, right?" "Yes." "And there is no other map with the island on it because your grandfather kept it a secret." "Yes, I get it, you need to go back." "We do. Look, I'm not happy about it either, but... we can't just let the dinosaurs roam free, it's too dangerous." "I know. They're dangerous to people, but maybe they're scared of them too." "Would you be scared of an ant?" "Bullet ants are scary." I smiled and rolled my eyes, "Yes, but we can't scare the dinosaurs away by biting them like bullet ants do to their enemies." "I guess that's true. But we have guns." "And dinosaurs have thick skin." "Tasers?" "Maisie, you know it's safer for both us and the dinosaurs to be separated, right?" She sighed, "I do... I just wish it didn't have to be." "Yeah, I know. I don't really like it either, even though I was only just starting to warm up to them." "You really think there's no other way?" "I'm afraid not." 

*

It was three days after O made the call with Dr. Sattler, which meant it was also they day Owen, Huib, the doctor trio: Sattler, Grant and Malcolm; Zia, who had somehow managed to drag Franklin along, I still have no idea how she did that, but I wasn't complaining because now we had two tech savvy guys, and I went to the estate. Of course we went when under the cover of dark. We all met up a few miles away from the estate at ten p.m.. Oh, yes, another thing, this was a no car mission so we all came on our bikes. We hid them in the forest at our rendezvous point, from which we walked all the way to the estate. 

"Okay guys, lights out," Owen whispered as they were getting closer to the estate. All lights went out at once. "Now let's proceed to the estate." "Hey, Owen, are there any cameras?" Huib asked. "Yeah, why?" "Well, cause the cameras are probably still working." "I don't think so," Franklin said. I have been in the control room, you know, before we released the dinosaurs, the cameras were turned off at the time." "Then what exactly are we here for?" Huib asked. "To turn off the alarm, that we know for sure has been turned back on," Owen said. "Wu would want to know if anyone is snooping around the mansion," I said. "Then wouldn't he have turned the cameras back on?" Huib said. Owen and I looked at each other. "There's a chance, yeah." "Good job on doing research guys," Dr. Malcolm put in. Sometimes that man was really annoying. "Ian..," Dr. Sattler said. "What, it's true. They didn't do enough research and now we're fucked." "Yeah well, the cops have been here since after the dinosaurs broke out," Owen said, "it's not like we could walk in on the crime scene and say, "Hey, can we maybe check if the cameras have been turned on, cause we wanna break into this place to steal a map," now is it?" "I guess that's true." "it is," I said. "No one could have walked in on this crime scene, especially not the people who caused the whole damn thing, so cut us some slack, will you?" "Fine, fine, relax. I'm just an old man. Redheads man, don't get them angry." "You're damn right, we're dangerous." "Is this the wrong moment to say I might have a solution to our problem?" Huib said. "There's never a bad time to say that," Dr. Grant said.

As it turned out, Huib's solution was a drone that operated a paintball gun. He used it to blind the cameras with paint. Honestly, it's not what I expected, but it turned out to be very effective. "Now all we have to do is get to the door and turn off the alarm from there," Huib said. "You got something for that too?" I asked him. "Of course I do, I got this USB cable that we can connect to the alarm system, which is located at the back of the house, to Franklin's laptop." "You're going to hack the security system?" Zia asked. Franklin looked quite uncomfortable, as usual, "Apparently." "Good luck with that," she said to him. "Thanks, I'll need it." "Nah, it's gonna be easy," Huib said. "Try an enemy military base, buddy, that's probably way more complicated." "Probably?" "Yeah, now let's go, you all wait here, okay?" "What do you mean with probably?" Franklin asked him as they walked off. 

"Well, what do we do while we wait?" Zia asked. "Hope the cops won't show up," I said. "Yeah, but aside from that... we just get bored... or do we make a plan or something?" "We already have a plan, we search his office." "Yeah, but what if it isn't in his office?" "Maisie said it would be." "What if the cops took it while searching the house?" "why would they take a map?" "Maybe it was marked top secret or something." "Zia, this is not a movie plot," Owen said. "Sometimes it does feel like one, I mean, how can real life be so crazily fucked up?" "A lot is made possible by science," I said dryly. "Yeah, like dinosaurs who screw you over," Zia mumbled. "Good, now that we agree that this is not a movie plot, can we please just wait for Franklin and Huib to come back," Owen said. "Sure," Zia replied, "Just one question, are all you navy guys so... musculated?" "Yeah, is it a problem to you?" "Nah, just wondering if it ain't distracting to the women in the Navy." "Not every man like that is attractive, Zia," I said. "I guess." "I mean, it helps, but there's also a thing like too much." "I guess, but you can have a type, right?" "Seriously Zia, what are you trying to do?" "I'm trying to figure out straight women." I sighed, "Now's not the time, and honestly, I don't think the difference between straight and gay is that big, it's just the gender we fall for." Zia nodded as if I had just confirmed one or another theory she had, "Good." "Good?" "Yeah, good." Owen chuckled. "What's so funny?" I asked him. "She's messing with you, you know that, right?" Zia smiled at me. "Of course she is... Little shit." "That's not very nice," Zia said with a hint of humor. "You're welcome." 

Luckily, it didn't take long for Franklin and Huib to come back, so I was saved from any more annoyances by Zia. "Hey guys, how was the waiting?" Huib asked. "It was fun," Zia replied. "It was okay," Dr. Malcolm said. "There was some entertainment, but it wasn't much good." "Thanks doc," I whispered while rolling my eyes. "Can we just go in now?" Franklin asked. "I hate waiting out here. What if the cops show up?" "They won't, and if they will, well... we'll be in a lot of trouble," Owen said. "You're really not making this better man," Franklin replied. Owen just shrugged an led us into the mansion. 

"Wow," Zia whispered in awe. "What?" Franklin asked her. "I can't see a thing," Zia replied. "Are you trying to be funny?" "At least one of us is." Owen turned the light on. "Wow," Dr. Malcolm said in awe. "What, Dr. Grant asked him. "I just saw myself in the mirror," Dr. Malcolm replied. "Ian..." Dr. Grant said with a sigh. Dr. Malcolm just smiled and winked. "Okay, back to serious business now," Owen said. "Good idea," Dr. Grant replied. "Let's get to that office and look for the map." 

At the office it turned out to be harder to find that map than we all thought. We had pulled open all closets and drawer and looked at every scrap of paper we could find, but we couldn't find a map. "Well, this working out great so far," I mumbled. "Hey, relax, we'll find it," Owen said. "We've looked everywhere, Owen." "Maybe there's a secret door..." "Really, you think an old and sick man would have a secret door in his office?" "Well, he had more secrets, didn't he?" "Owen, this still isn't a movie. This is real life. Real life doesn't have secret doors." "Hey guys," Huib said, "I found a secret door behind the book case." Owen smirked at me, "You were saying?" "Oh shut up." 

We all went down the spiraling stairs that the secret door led to, because of course it led to a downward spiraling stairs, cause apparently our lives had turned into some terrible movie plot. "It's dark again," Zia said. "Yeah, no shit, Zia?" I replied. "We can see that for ourselves." "Would be cool of there were torches." "I saw one a while back," Huib said from further down the stairs, you guys should still be close to it." Zia looked around and did indeed find a torch. "Now how are we gonna light this up? Has anyone got matches?" Not much later matches were being handed up and Zia could light the torch, which was handed down to light the other torches on the way. 

"Seriously, how old is this house that it had a spiraling stairs and torches?" I mumbled as we were walking down, which we had been doing for what felt like an hour by then. "It might have been built on the foundations of an older building, like a castle or something," Owen replied. "I mean, the office was on ground level, right?" "Yes." "Well... I mean, it could be we're walking in an old castle right now." "Seriously, you guys watch too many movies," I said. "Maybe," Owen said. "Maybe not." 

Finally there came an end to the stairs. "Look, there's another door," Huib said. Obviously, I thought. "I wonder what's behind that," Owen said. "Maybe there's a secret lab," Zia suggested. "I mean... didn't you guys say Maisie was a clone of his daughter? Maybe this is the lab where he cloned Maisie." We all looked at Zia. Then suddenly Dr. Sattler said, "Wait, Lockwood did what?" "He cloned his daughter," Owen said. "Long story, we'll explain it later." "Wow, no, you'll explain it now!" Dr. Grant said. "His daughter died, Lockwood and Hammond had a fallout because Lockwood wanted to clone his daughter because he loved her so much and he knew it was possible with the technology that they had. Hammond wanted to use it to make dinosaurs only, I think... I mean, dinosaurs sure are more dangerous than humans... well, in most cases, anyway. They didn't want to work together anymore, and years later Lockwood couldn't take it anymore cause he felt too lonely and he cloned his daughter. At least that's what we think," I explained. They all looked slightly freaked out, "But... humans are much more complex than animals, than dinosaurs," Dr. Sattler said. "What was he thinking?" Dr. Grant added. "Loneliness does crazy things to a human being," Dr. Malcolm concluded. "It was loneliness that drove him to do this..." 

"So, are we gonna look what's in that room or no?" Zia asked. "Yeah, we are," Owen said, "Huib, open the door if you please." Huib tried it, "It's not opening. "Try pushing it," I suggested. That worked. "Stupid doors," Huib mumbled as he walked into the room. "What do you see?" Owen asked him. "Nothing, it's black as night here." "Turn on your flashlight, Huib." "Relax man, I was just about to do that." A second later the light of Huib's flashlight appeared. "Well, this is a lab alright," he said. "This is quite modern as well..." There was silence for a while then, "Guys, I think I found something that looks like bone." "Bone?" "Yeah, bone. It's just a small splinter, so I'm not sure what kind of bone it is, but it's definitely bone." I turned to Owen, "Could be from the Indominous." "Yeah, he wouldn't have any bone of his daughter here, he probably used hair or something for that... But if it's from the I-rex than it means Mills and Wu have been here." "Which means the map won't be here either..." "No, it won't be." 

"Well, that was a waste of our time," I said as we were back in the office. "Well... not completely," Owen said as he held up the little piece of bone. "Why did you take that?" "Well, we have all seen on the camera footage that the bone has been shattered right? And the cops took all the pieces with them. But Wu knows this piece is here and he will come back for it." "Owen, that would be a very smart move if you, if there wasn't a way for them to get another bone." "Which there isn't because the whole island has been overrun by lava." "Yeah, which only makes it a little harder to get to the skeleton, you know they could still just dig it up, right?" "If the bones haven't been burned by the lava." "It was in the mosasaur lake... the lava might have formed some new land there, but a pretty big part of the lake is probably still just that, a lake. The chance that the can dig up, or just retrieve the skeleton out of the lake is still pretty big." "Dammit." "Yeah, dammit indeed." "Are you talking about the skeleton of that hybrid dinosaur that broke out at the park?" Dr. Malcolm asked. "Yes," I said. "Hmmm, and you're afraid he'll make another one of those." "Yes, or maybe something wore, last time he combined the DNA of the I-Rex with that of a velociraptor." "You think he'll do that again?" "Quite likely." "And you think he'll make more hybrids than just those?" "Yes, which is another reason as to why the dinosaurs need to be moved. And why Wu needs to go to jail." "Well... is there anything in the house that you can associate with the island?" I thought about that question, "Well... there is a scale model." "That sounds like the right place to look." 

Not much later we found ourselves surrounding the sale model. "Well, here it is," I said. "Looks like a nice island," Dr. Sattler said softly. "Yeah, it does," Owen replied, 'Now let's look for the treasure it holds." "Owen, firstly, you're not a pirate," I told him, "secondly, pirates rarely buried their treasure." "Can I have some fun?" "No." "Women..." "What's that?" Dr. Sattler, Zia and I said at the same time. "Uh... nothing..." Dr. Malcolm chuckled, "That's the right answer." "Yeah, we thought so too." "So, how are we gonna do this?" Huib asked. "We could look or some secret button or secret panel," Zia suggested. "And if that doesn't work maybe we should just tear the whole damn thing down?" "What if there's a clue on the scale model itself?" I asked Zia, cause her plan sounded terrible. "We'll find that while looking for a secret panel or a secret button." 

"Hey, does anyone have a blacklight?" Owen handed him one in response. "Wow, navy men, prepared for anything it seems," Zia mumbled. "Pretty badass." "Yeah, it kinda is," I agreed. "Look," Huib said. There's something written on the wood here." "What is it?" Dr. Grant asked him. "Looks like coordinations," Huib replied. "Looks like we got what we were looking for," Dr. Malcolm said. "Has anyone got pen and paper?" "I go something better," Zia said. "Really now?" "Yeah, it's called a phone, they got cameras in them." "Ah, yes, modern phones have that," Dr. Grant mumbled, which amused Dr. Sattler quite a lot. Zia took a picture of the coordinates, and just like that we finally knew where to go.


	4. Dammit Karen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's been more than I year since I actually worked on this fic... and it's been quite some time than I wrote as well, so if the quality is different from the other chapters, I'm very sorry, I hope you guys can still enjoy it. Anyway, have a nice day my dear "fans". Love y'all for liking my work.

Well, at least that brought us a little further. We had coordinates now. Of course we still needed the dinosaurs and a way to transport said dinosaurs. But first, Owen had another idea. “Well, now that we have the coordinates, maybe we should check out the island.” Dr. Sattler nodded, “It’s a good idea to check it out, see what shape it’s in.” “And to see if it’s actually there,” Malcolm said. “You never know. Maybe InGen or the cops have searched this place with black light and found the coordinates.” “Yeah, well, let’s hope they didn’t,” Grant said. “You know, for the sake of the safety of humanity and all. And for the sake of the dinosaurs of course.” 

*

The next morning Karen woke us with a nice, “Where did you two sneak off to last night?” Which made me realize I totally forgot to tell her the plan. “Well… we can explain.” “Were you doing something illegal?” “Yes.” “Claire!” “Nobody caught us!” “Yeah, I noticed, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. Now what the hell were you doing?” “We went into the estate,” Owen told her. “You… what?” “The estate, to look for the map,” he said. “Map…” “For the island,” I said. “To… put the dinosaurs on?” “Yes, that one.” “How did you get in without any alarm going off?” “We got ourselves some nerds,” Owen explained. “Nerds… Did you find what you were looking for?” “Well, yes and no,” I said. “What?” “We didn’t find a map, only coordinates.” “Oh… and what are you going to do now?” “Well… hire a boat.”   
Owen was taking a shower, Karen had sent him away so we could talk together “like sisters”. I knew that meant nothing good, at least not at the moment. “You guys are going to that island?” “Well, yes. Last time I checked that’s not illegal.” She sighed, “I know that, but… it might be dangerous.” “No, really?” “No need to get sarcastic Claire, I just want to protect you.” I rolled my eyes, “I’m perfectly capable to take care of myself, thanks.” “Are you sure, because you seem to be getting yourself in quite a lot of trouble lately. And it’s only gonna get worse.” “Karen, I know what I’m doing.” “Do you? What if you get caught?” “We’ll find a way to escape.” “And what if you don’t? There’s a chance you might die.” I sighed, “I know that.” “And could you die like that?” “Like what?” “Without telling him… you know?” “Can you please stop about that?” “No, he should know, Claire!” “Keep it down, will you?” “Really?” “Look, I’ll tell him when the time is right.” “And that is?” “Probably when this is all over…” “Claire, that could be years!” “I know that.” “You can’t keep it from him for years.” “Well… I basically already did.” “For any more years then. Honestly, you should have just called him as soon as yo-,” “Hey ladies, what’s going on?” Owen asked as he walked into the room, wearing nothing but a towel. For Karen’s sake I hoped he was wearing underpants underneath them, but I doubted it. “Why do you look so shocked? Did I disturb something?” “No,” I quickly said before Karen could say something. “Just the usual, “I’m your older sister, I’m acting like a second mom” talk.” Karen glared at me. “Right. I uh… I’m done showering and I really want to get dressed sooooo… Karen, could you please?” “Sure, Claire, are you coming too?” “No, we need to talk,” Owen said. Oh great, he’s suspicious, I thought.   
“So, what were you and Karen talking about?” “Why do you feel like you need to know?” I know that wasn’t the right thing to say, but still I was stupid enough to say it anyway. “Well, it sounded like you were talking about some secret that you’re keeping from someone.” “Did it?” “Yeah, it did,” he said as he turned to face me, he was wearing underwear in the meanwhile. “Are you keeping a secret from someone?” “Well, I am keeping several secrets of course, like any human.” “Claire, you know that’s not what I mean.” I sighed, “Yes, I do.” “So, are you keeping a secret from someone?” “You’re wondering if I’m keeping a secret from you, aren’t you?” He nodded. I sighed, “I see. Well, Owen, let me put your mind at ease, I am not keeping any secrets from you, okay?” He nodded, but I still saw a hint of suspicion in his eyes. “Hey,” I whispered as I walked over to him, “I promise, I’m not keeping anything from you, okay? To you I’m an open book.” I hugged him. yes, it felt wrong to lie to him and to reassure him like this. But… I just wasn’t ready yet. I needed all of this dinosaur stuff to cool down before I could tell him. He hugged me back and mumbled a simple, “Okay.” I wasn’t sure if he believed me a hundred percent, but when I looked up into his eyes I didn’t see any more hints of suspicion. “You know, it’s almost a pity you put on some underwear.” “Oh really?” It was exactly that moment Gray chose to walk by our room, “Ew, gross,” he said as he passed. “He says that now,” Owen mumbled. “Owen…” “What, in a few years he’ll realize that a really hot girl wanting to see you naked is really far from gross. On the contrary, it’s kind of exciting.” “Owen, stop.” “Why?” He said with a sly smile. “You know why?” “You’re really sucking the fun out of everything.” “Pity for you I’m not sucking more than that.” “Hmmm, yeah, pity indeed.” 

Owen got dressed, there was some more sex talk and we eventually went downstairs. Karen looked at me questioningly and I lightly shook my head. She looked very disappointed in me, and yeah, that hurts, I mean, if you have a good bond with your sister you really don’t want to disappoint her. So yeah, that sucked. Then again, I have tried to explain it to her and she never wanted to listen, so there was a reason for me to be mad at her as well. I just looked at her like, “What do you want to do about it?” She looked back at me as if she wanted to say, “Is that a challenge?” Challenging her is a stupid idea, Claire and you will regret it, don’t do it. “Yes it is.” Stupid stupid stupid. She looked at Owen as if to say, “Well I could just tell him.” “You won’t.” “That sure does look like a challenge.” “Karen I swear to God, you’ll regret that.” “Well you tell him then, soon. Or I will do it.” Well, that was a fun little, mildly threatening facial expression conversation. At least Owen didn’t seem to have noticed what was going on, he was quite distracted by the pancakes. 

*

That same morning only a few hours later Owen and I had a meeting with the doctor trio, Huib, Zia and Franklin, about what we were going to do and how we were going to do it. Meaning, we were going to decide who was going to the island and how we were going to get what we needed to get there. It was quite obvious what we needed of course, a boat. Well, it was that or a helicopter, but a boat was easier to get, so we set our minds on a boat. Partly because one of us is afraid of heights… which might have been me… And obviously Franklin was also against the thought of a helicopter but nobody really knew his reasons. 

“So… we need a boat,” Owen said. “Obviously,” Zia mumbled, “But thanks anyway, Captain Obvious.” “You’re welcome, Doc.” “Yeah, uh, I’m not sure how I think about this whole boat thing,” Franklin said. “Seriously Franklin, you’re a wuss,” Zia commented. “Like, seriously, is there anything you’re not scared of?” “Computers.” Zia sighed, “Dear God…” Owen ignored their conversation, “So, does anyone have a boat?” “I have a yacht,” Dr. Malcolm brought up. “Of course he does,” Dr. Grant said with a sigh. “Hey, I like some luxury, I’m supposed to be retired, maybe you should try that too.” Dr Grant shook his head a little, “I’m trying, I have been trying for the past few years, but it’s not really working out. I was doing great a few months ago, but then they happened,” he said as he pointed at me and Owen. “Sorry,” Owen said. “It’s fine, it’s mostly InGen anyway.” “So, I have a yacht.” “With room for how many people?” Dr. Sattler. “About twenty people, which is way more room than we need if we want to keep this secret,” Malcolm replied. Sattler nodded, “It’s enough for now, yes.” Nobody said anything about how we were obviously going to need a way bigger boat and a lot more people later. “Well, that’s settled then,” Owen said, “We’ll take Dr. Malcolm’s yacht to find the island. Should be fun.” “As long as you don’t take a blacklight,” Dr. Malcolm mumbled. “What?” Franklin asked in mild alarm as Zia sniggered silently. “Nothing kid, ignore me.” “Uh… okay.” 

We discussed a few more details and then the meeting was over. To be honest, I dreaded going back to Karen’s house. I was afraid she’d start to bug me about the secret I’m keeping from Owen again… and I really didn’t want that. I was also afraid that maybe she’d just tell Owen what happened herself, which would honestly be way worse. “You okay?” Owen asked as we were nearing the town Karen lived in, the meeting had been at Dr. Grant’s office a few towns away. “Well… You know, I’m starting to think… we can’t live with my sister forever… we’re probably kind of a bother to her, maybe we should start looking for a place for ourselves.” “Well… I’m still working on that cabin.” I rolled my eyes, “Indeed, still working on, meaning it’s not finished yet so we can’t live there, we need a place where we can live in the meantime.” “I see your point… Where did you live when… you know?” “A one bedroom apartment.” “Hmmmm… that wouldn’t work with Maisie, unless we can find one of those couches that turns into a bed.” “That… is actually a pretty good option,” I admitted, eager to just get away from Karen. “That way it would probably be better to put her in the bedroom ad we’ll take the couch.” I nodded in agreement. 

“So what’s really bothering you?” Owen asked me after we had driven in silence for mere minutes. “Huh?” “Claire, I know you better than you think, and you get more nervous the closer we’re getting to Karen’s, so what’s going on?” I sighed, “Karen’s just… getting on my nerves…” “How?” “Well… you know… siblings…” “Claire…” I sighed, “It’s nothing, you need to worry about, okay?” “Are you sure?” “Yes.”   
I’ll admit, it was something he had to worry about, kind of, I mean, I was keeping a secret from him… and he was kind of involved in that secret. And lying to him like that, well it wasn’t easy, but… I wasn’t ready to tell him yet… I was… Well I was afraid. I was afraid he’d get angry and leave… again. I mean, we had only been together again for a really short while now which meant nothing was certain.   
As soon as we got to Karen’s house we searched the internet for as Owen said, “one of those couches that turns into a bed”. “You know that’s not what they’re called, right?” “Well, what are they called then?” “Pretty sure it’s sofa bed.” “Ah, right sofa bed. Well, let’s just see where we can find one, shall we?” We quickly stumbled upon one from Ikea. “What even is that name?” Owen said. “Something I assume is some sort of Nordic language,” I replied. “why does Ike never have normal names?” “Maybe it’s normal in Sweden.” “Oh right, that’s where Ikea’s from. Anyway, what do you think of…” he squinted at the screen, “grönlid?” “It should go quite well with the interior of my apartment.” “What color?” “The dark grey one would probably be best.” Owen nodded and ordered grönlid in dark grey. “Well, that’s that.” 

*

Grönlid was delivered two days later. Putting it together was, as is always the case with Ikea products, not as easy as we thought it would be, but it’s still healthier for your relationship than playing Monopoly. But eventually we managed to put the couch together in the right way and we figured out how to turn it into a bed as well. All in all a great success on our part. “Well, Claire and Owen 1 – Ikea 0,” Owen said as he laid down on the bed. I rolled my eyes and smiled, “Really? It’s not a match.” “It’s always a match against Ikea, Claire.” “I… don’t think that’s right.” “Trust me, it is, it always is.” “Men,” I mumbled. Owen winked at me and got up, “Now let’s go get our stuff, huh? So we won’t be a bother to your sister anymore.” “Yeah, sounds good.” 

*

We were about to leave, as Karen walked up to me. “Can we talk for just a minute?” I sighed, “Do I have a choice?” “Not really, no.” “Well, then I guess we can. But not here.” She sighed and rolled her eyes but led me around the house into the backyard. For lack of chairs we sat down on the old swing set. “Well, go ahead,” I said. “I know you’re leaving because I keep pressing you to tell him.” “So?” “You really think I’m gonna stop?” “No.” “It would be better for him to know, Claire.” “I disagree on that, for now.” “Why?” “Because the relationship Owen and I have is still quite fragile and I don’t want him to get mad and leave me again.” “I thought you left him.” “Well… I mean I told him to leave, basically, but… I didn’t mean it… and now’s not the time to talk about technicalities. Can you just continue to threaten me so I can leave?” Karen smiled slightly but her eyes looked quite sad, “You know I’m just trying to do what’s best for you. I’m trying to push you to trust Owen. Believe me, you’ll feel better after you’ve told him.” “Karen, can you please let me tell him when I feel comfortable doing it?” She sighed, “Claire, you know, sometimes in life you have to do things you’re afraid to do, things you’re uncomfortable doing, but you’ll have to do them nevertheless.” “Yeah, I’m very much aware of that.” “I’m sorry… but I’m going to have to give you a deadline.” “What?” “If you haven’t told him before the day you’re leaving for Lockwood’s island, I’ll tell him. Understood?” “That’s unfair.” “No, it’s unfair of you to keep this secret from him.” “Why? It’s not like telling him will change anything! It happened and we can’t turn it back.” “I know… but he still has the right to know. So the deadline still stands.” 

*

Two weeks later we were about to leave for the island. Maisie would stay with Karen for as long as we would be gone. Since we had no idea how long this expedition would take, Malcolm had loaded up on food and drinks. “Just wanna make sure we survive the trip,” he said as twenty crates of beer and three barrels of wine, yes actual barrels of wine, were loaded onto the yacht. “I’m…not sure alcohol is that important to survive,” I said. “Ah, but how else will we lighten the mood?” Malcolm said right before he walked off. “Don’t mind him too much, he probably wants to save them for some kind of party he wants to throw if it turns out the island does actually exist. You know, when we’re a 100% sure,” Dr. Grant said to me. “He really doesn’t like that the dinosaurs got loose, huh?” “He was skeptical from the very beginning,” Dr Grant explained. Of course I had heard that before, but to hear it be confirmed by someone who had actually been there at the time was slightly different. “He saw the dangers while we were still amazed by the beauty of all those creatures.” “So in some way he was the smartest of us all, huh?” I said. “I’d like to argue that I still am,” Malcolm’s suddenly sounded from behind us. “But thank you for giving me the credit I deserve.” 

“Well, today’s the big day, huh?” Owen said as we looked at the yacht while waiting on Franklin and Huib who still had to arrive. “Yeah,” I replied. “Excited?” “A little.” “Are you okay?” “Yeah,” I told him, “just a little nervous.” “Why? Are you afraid that the island doesn’t really exist?” He joked. “Maybe a little.” Of course that wasn’t the real reason. I was actually nervous because I was afraid that Karen would show up and ruin things. “Hey, don’t be, okay? Why would there be coordinates if the island doesn’t really exist?” I shrugged, “It could be a trap.” He seemed to think that over for a while, “It could be… but… who would have set it, I mean, Mills is dead and Wu… well, I’m not sure he’s that clever. I mean, he sure is smart, but clever… I’m not so sure about that.” “Hmmmm…” “So don’t worry, okay? We’re gonna be totally fine. Even if we’re going to be on a boat with Ian Malcolm for an undetermined time.” I chuckled, “I’m more worried about being on a boat with Franklin.” “No need for that, he might just be too scared to get out of his room.” “Hey… that’s unfair,” Franklin’s voice sounded behind us.”   
We turned to fac him. “Sorry,” Owen said. “I’m not really scared of everything,” Franklin said looking annoyed. “We know that, we’re just joking,” I assured him. “Good, now… who else is already here?” “Grant, Sattler, Malcolm and Zia,” Owen told him. Franklin nodded, “I see, well, I’m gonna put my stuff on the boat.” “We’ll wait here for Huib,” Owen said. Franklin nodded and walked off, “See ya later then.” 

We waited for a little while longer and eventually two cars arrived. “Hey, is that Karen’s car?” Owen asked. I nodded. “She here to wave you off or something?” “Yeah, she said she would take the boys and Maisie to come and do that.” “Huh, that’s nice of her.” “Yeah… very nice,” I said as a feeling of dread settled over me. Huib reached us first, we had a short conversation and then he went to store his stuff on the boat. That’s when Karen joined us with the boys and Maisie. “Well, big day huh?” She said. “Yeah,” both Owen and I replied at the same time. “That’s a nice boat,” Zach commented. “It’s a yacht, actually,” Malcolm said, seemingly showing up out of nowhere. “Fancy,” Zach said. “Well, thank you, young man. I’m Dr. Ia-“ “Yeah, I know,” Zach said. Ian chuckled, “Of course you do, and you are?” “Zach Mitchell, this is my brother, Grey.” “And I take it that beautiful blonde is your mother?” For a second I had been afraid that he was going to flirt and that he would say sister. “Yeah.” “And you’re here because?” “Because we wanna say bye to our aunt Claire before she goes,” Grey answered before Zach got a chance. “Ah, of course, I should have seen it, two such pretty ladies just have to be related.” Karen rolled her eyes. “So, any chance you kids wanna see the yacht from the inside before you leave. “Yeah, that would be cool,” Grey said. “Well, come along then,” Ian said as he walked off. The kids followed. 

Now we were alone with Karen, who gave me a meaningful look. I’m doomed, I thought. “So, how long do you guys think you’ll be gone?” She asked us. “We don’t know yet,” Owen said, it depends on how big the island is and on what we encounter on the way.” Karen nodded, “Maisie is quite sad that you’re leaving, she likes living with you guys. It’s really giving her the peace she needs.” “She said that?” I asked. Karen nodded. “Yeah, well, everything is quite peaceful between us,” Owen mentioned, “Quite different from how it was last time, huh?” “Oh shut up,” I told him. “He has a point,” Karen said softly. “You shut up too.” “So, nothing big going on between you guys huh? Well, I’m very glad to hear that… any chance that that is because you’re keeping secrets from each other? I mean, it’s perfectly normal to fight from time to time, this peace is… kinda scary.” Owen looked kinda puzzled, “Are you suggesting something?” He turned to me, “Is she suggesting something?” I shrugged, “I don’t know, are you, Karen?” “Claire, quite the pretense, will you?” Owen looked at me, “Claire, what does she mean?” I sighed, “I…” “She’s been keeping a secret from you, I told her she had to tell you before today, otherwise I would tell you.” 

There was a silence that seemed to last for hours, while in reality it couldn’t have been much more than a minute. “Claire?” Owen said softly. “Have you been keeping a secret?” I nodded, looking at the ground. I couldn’t look him in the eye. “Why?” He sounded hurt, he didn’t ask what it was, if it was big, he just knew it was. “I… I just couldn’t tell you… I… I was scared.” My voice sounded small. “Scared of what?” “That you would leave again…” “Oh…” He did seem to get that, then he turned to Karen, “Well… I still want to know what it is…” “Claire?” It was like there was a lump in my throat, I knew I couldn’t tell him this without starting to cry, so I shook my head. Karen sighed, “Well, I really have given you all the chances I could give you. So I guess that it’s up to me now.” Owen looked at me with concern in his eyes. He knew me and from the look n my face he knew it was going to be bad. But he didn’t tell Karen to stop, he didn’t say, “Nevermind”, no, he remained silent and waited for Karen to reveal what might be the biggest secret I had ever kept from him.   
“It’s about something that happened during the time you were… uh… apart. It happened quite soon after, actually.” Owen seemed fascinated and puzzled at the same time. “Claire… well about to months after you left Claire found out that she was pregnant.” This seemed to shock him, cause he knew he was the only man that could possibly have been the father. “What? She was?” Then the realization hit him, “Wait… but then where is…” There was a short silence then he turned to me. “What happened? What did you do?” He seemed angry. “I… I didn’t do anything,” I said quickly. “Then where’s the child… our child, Claire?” “I… I had an accident,” I whispered while staring at my feet. “An… accident?” Karen nodded, “She missed a step of the stairs and fell down two flights of stairs at the apartment complex she lives in.” “Oh… So you didn’t have…” “No… I didn’t. I wasn’t even planning to.” “You weren’t?” “No… I… I was planning on keeping it, Karen would help me raise it….” “And were you ever planning on telling me?” I looked at the yacht, Zach Grey and Maisie just walked out of it, “Maybe,” I said softly. “Maybe?” “I don’t know, okay? I thought it would look like a desperate attempt to get you back!” “Right. Or maybe you just wanted our child for yourself.” “Oh you really think I’m that selfish?” “Well, how much time was there between you finding out and the accident?” “Three weeks…” “That would have been enough time to contact me!” “Right, as if you would have believed me!” This seemed to silence him, “I… don’t know… I would at least have come over to check it out I think… to make sure. You were selfish to keep this from me, Claire… I think I’ll sleep on one of those comfy looking couches tonight, better that than sleeping next to someone as selfish as you,” he said before he walked off. I turned to Karen, “You happy now?!” She seemed shocked, “You think I knew he would react like that?” “It’s what I’ve been trying to tell you! Thank you for not listening to me!” And then I turned my back to her and walked off. “Aunt Claire?” Grey said as I passed him, he sounded concerned but I ignored him and got on the stupid yacht.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh wow, nobody died yet.
> 
> *raptor noises*


End file.
